the National Assembly, resembling very much the French Conseil d'Etat. It consists of 15 members, nominated by the King for life, and examines and elaborates the projects of laws, and authorises extraordinary loans for the municipalities. This body is always sitting. The ordinary National Assembly, which is renewed every three years, consists (1884) of 178 members, three-fourths of whom are elected by the nation, and one-fourth by the king. No military man may be member of the Assembly, or vote in elections. Besides this there is the Great National Assembly, which has four times the elected members of the ordinary (536), and is called when required to decide on vital and constitutional questions. It has no king's deputies. Every tax-paying Servian is eligible as elector, and as deputy all who pay not less than 30 francs taxes per annum, and who are past thirty years of age.

Church and Education.

The religion of Servia is the Greek Orthodox, but it is independent of the Patriarch at Constantinople. There are 5,000 Roman Catholics, chiefly subjects of Austria-Hungary, with about 500 Protestants and about 4,000 Jews.

Servia is divided into five dioceses, the bishops of these, with the metropolitan at Belgrade, forming the Church Synod. This synod for the election of the metropolitan is assisted by lay members, drawn from the National Assembly and lay tribunals. In Servia there are 498 churches, 26 chapels, and 52 monasteries, with 1,099 persons in holy orders, 125 of whom are monks.

The High School or Servian University has three faculties : philosophy, law, and technics, with 29 professors, and 158 students in 1883. There are two normal schools at Belgrade and one at Nisch, with 19 teachers and 167 students. Of grammar schools (gymnasia) there are three, with 53 teachers and 1,176 students. Besides these there are 18 lower grammar schools with 122 teachers and 2,205 students; besides several art, engineering, and trade schools, with 32 teachers and 393 students. Of common schools there are 616, 876 teachers and about 40,000 pupils, only oneeighth of whom are females.

Revenue and Army.

The revenue of Servia is derived chiefly from direct imposts, including a general capitation tax, classified as to rank, occupation, and income of each individual, and which is assessed, in the first instance, on the different communes, or parishes. The budget for 1883-4 is as follows:-Revenue, 1,494,6007., expenditure, 1,491,6467., showing 2,9541. surplus. The estimate for 1884-5 is: revenue, 1,840,000l.; expenditure, 1,838,745.; sur

plus, 1,2557. The increase of revenue is to be derived from a new system of taxation according to income, and is to be applied to the construction of railways, the reorganisation of the army, and the payment of interest on a new 5 per cent. State loan of 1,500,0007. sterling. The national debt of Servia is as follows (Dec. 1884) :— 5 per cent. amortised railway loans for 50 years, 4,000,000l.; lottery loan, 1,000,000l.; agrarian loan and Russian loan, 500,000%; new State loan, 1,500,000l.; total, 7,000,000l. The interest and expenses on the debt is 334,000l. in the budget for 1884, and 463,3537. for 1885.

The King is Commander-in-Chief of the army. It is divided into three classes. The first, the standing army and its reserves, from 20 to 30 years of age; the second class is composed of those who have served in the active army, from 30 to 37 years of age; the third class, from 30 to 50 years of age, only called on under extraordinary necessity. The first-class has 5 divisions, 1 active; the second, 5 divisions; the third, 60 battalions; and each of these has its assigned district. Every male of 20 years is obliged to serve in these classes-with few exceptions. After two years' service in the active army they pass into the reserve of the first class. Reserves of the first class have 30 days' service annually, and the second class is called up for 8 days annually. The standing cadre of the army consists of 15 battalions of infantry, 6 squadrons of cavalry, 20 field batteries, 3 mountain batteries, 1 fortress half battalion, 1 pioneers battalion, 1 pontooneers half battalion, 5 sanitary companies, 5 transport squadrons, and 1 Pyrotechnic company. The battalions are in 5 regiments, and every territorial division has thus 1 regiment. Every division has also 1 regiment of 4 field batteries. All the batteries have 6 guns. The strength of the standing cadre is about 18,000 men. On active footing the cadre is augmented by its first class reserve, and thus raised to a strength of 100,000 men. The strength of the second class is 55,000 men. The third class has 12 battalions in each division and has also a strength of about 55,000 men. This whole army of three classes, numbering together 210,000 men, is always in whole or in part on either a peace footing, an extraordinary footing, or on a war footing, and either class is available for active service as required for the defence of the country when called. on by the Royal ukase in conformity with the law. Officers 900; guns about 350. A gendarme force of about 800 strong has been distributed throughout the country since 1883.

Population and Commerce,

Servia has an area of 18,800 square miles, with a population estimated at 1,865,688 in December 1883. The marriages in 1883

were 21,991; births, 86,434; deaths, 42,006; excess, 44,428. The inhabitants are almost entirely Slav, the Turkish population on the territory (4,250 square miles) acquired from Turkey by the Berlin Treaty having rapidly diminished; though there are still (December, 1884) 10,000 Ottoman subjects in Servia. The gipsy population (27,289), it is stated, is turning to the cultivation of the land on the advantageous terms offered to them by the Government. The capital of the country is Belgrade, with a population of 37,500 in 1884; Nish, 12,801. The State is divided into 21 counties.

The excess of births over deaths amounted to 15,355 in 1880,. to 36,836 in 1881, and to 38,565 in 1882.

The following table, compiled by the British Consul at Belgrade, gives the value of the trade of Servia by the different frontiers in 1882:

Taking into account the value of the smuggled goods, the real value of Servian imports is probably 2,000,000l.

The chief article of export is live animals (43 per cent. of total), particularly pigs, which are kept in countless herds, feeding on the acorns which cover the ground for miles. Large quantities of cereals, hides, and prunes are also exported; exports of grain and wine are on the increase. The chief imports are sugar, salt, cotton goods, and other textiles, iron manufactures, cattle and horses, and petroleum, In the Board of Trade returns, the commerce of Servia. with Great Britain is returned as nil; but a British ConsularReport for 1883 gives the value of the total imports from England at 400,000l. A law of 1883 authorised the opening of a national bank with a capital of 800,000l. A railway from Belgrade to Vranja is being constructed, to be joined with the Salonica railway; in December 1884 there were 200 miles of railway from Belgrade to the interior. There are 1,410 miles of telegraph, with 68 stations.

Of the total area 4,200,000 acres (about one-third) are under cultivation, maize and wheat being the chief crops. The land is divided up, into small farms, varying mostly from 10 to 30 acres; there being altogether 1,750,000 persons occupied in agriculture. In 1882 the live stock was estimated at 1,067,940 swine, 122,500 horses, 826,550 cattle, 3,620,750 sheep, 725,700 goats. Servia is stated to

be rich in minerals, coal, iron, lead, copper, zinc, &c., but as yet

little developed.

Diplomatic Representatives.

1. OF SERVIA IN GREAT BRITAIN.

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary.-M. Chedomille Mijatovich, appointed Aug. 31, 1884.

Consul-General.-James George Cotton Minchin.

Minister Resident.

2. OF GREAT BRITAIN IN SERVIA.

Money, Weights, and Measures.

Servia accepted by the law of June 20, 1875, the French decimal system for its moneys, weights, and measures. The Servian dinar ris equal to one franc; the gold Milan to French gold pieces of 20 francs; there are also silver coins of 50 centimes (para), and copper and nickel coins of 20, 10, and 5 centimes.

The decimal weights and measures (kilogram, metre, &c.) are in practical use only since the commencement of 1883; the old Turkish and Austrain weights and measures still lingering in districts at some distance from Belgrade and railway line.

Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning Servia.

1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Statistique de la Serbie. 4. Belgrade, 1875-80.

6

Reports on the Trade of Servia by Vice-Consul Baker, of Nisch, in Reports of H.M.'s Consuls,' 1879-81.

Report by Vice-Consul Baker on the Trade and Commerce of Servia for 1882, in Reports of H.M.'s Consuls.' Parts IV. and X. 1883.

Report by Consul-General Schuyler on the Foreign Commerce of Servia in 'Reports from the Consuls of the United States.' No. 31. 1883. Washing

ton, 1883.

Report by the Belgian Minister to Servia, M. Emile de Borchgrave: Le Royaume de Serbie. Bruxelles, 1883.

2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Balme (M.) La Principauté de Serbie. 8. Paris, 1880.

Grieve (W. T.), The Church and People of Servia. 8. London, 1864. Jakchich (Vladimir), Recueil statistique sur les contrées serbes. 8. Belgrade, 1875.

Kanitz (F.), Serbien: Historisch-Ethnographische Reisestudien aus den Jahren, 1859-1868. 8. Leipzig, 1868.

Mijatovics (Elodie Lawton), The History of Modern Serbia. 8. London, 1872. Paton (Andrew Archibald), Servia, the Youngest Member of the European Family. 8. London, 1845.

Thiers (Henri), La Serbie: son passé et son avenir. 8. Paris, 1862.

SPAIN.

(ESPAÑA.)

Reigning King.

Alfonso XII., born November 28, 1857, the son of Queen Isabel and of the Infante Francisco; proclaimed King of Spain at Madrid, December 31, 1874; assumed the government, January 9, 1875; married January 23, 1878, to Princess Maria-de-las-Mercedes, born June 24, 1860, youngest daughter of the Duc de Montpensier; widower, June 26, 1878; married, in second nuptials, Nov. 29, 1879, to Archduchess Marie Christina of Austria, born July 21, 1858. Offspring of the second union are two daughters: 1. Maria-de-lasMercedes, born September 11, 1880; 2. Maria Teresa, born November 12, 1882.

Sisters of the King.

I. Infanta Isabel, born Dec. 20, 1851; married, May 13, 1868, to Gaetan, Count de Girgenti; widow, Nov. 26, 1871.

II. Infanta Maria-de-la-Paz, born June 23, 1862; married, April 3, 1883, to Prince Ludwig, eldest son of the late Prince Adalbert of Bavaria.

III., Infanta Eulalia, born February 12, 1864.

Parents of the King.

Queen Isabel, born October 10, 1830; the eldest daughter of King Fernando VII.; ascended the throne at the death of her father, Sept. 29, 1833; assumed the government on being declared of age, Nov. 8, 1843; exiled Sept. 30, 1868; abdicated in favour of her son, June 25, 1870. Married, Oct. 10, 1846, to her cousin, Infante Francisco, horn May 13, 1822.

Aunt of the King.

Infanta Luisa, born Jan. 30, 1832, the second daughter of King Fernando VII.; married Oct. 10, 1846, to Prince Antoine d'Orléans, Duc de Montpensier, sixth son of King Louis Philippe of the French. Offspring of the union are two children:-1. Princess Isabelle, born Sept. 21, 1848; married May 30, 1864, to Prince Louis Philippe, Comte de Paris, born Aug. 24, 1838, eldest son of Prince Ferdinand, Duke of Orléans. 2. Prince Antoine, born Feb. 23, 1866.

Cousin of the King.

Infante Don Carlos Maria-de-los-Dolores, born March 30, 1848, the eldest son of Infante Don Carlos, nephew of King Fernando VII. Married, Feb. 4, 1867, to Princess Marguerite of Bourbon, daughter

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